Torquato Conti

Torquato Conti (1591-6 June 1636) was a Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Guadagnolo, and Gonfalonier of the Catholic Church. He was nicknamed "the Devil" for his cruelty shown towards civilians during the Thirty Years' War.

Biography
Torquato Conti was born in Rome, Papal States in 1591, the son of the Duke of Poli and the nephew of a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Rather than pursue an ecclesiastical career, he joined the Spanish Army and commanded an infantry company during the battle against the Savoyards at Alba in 1616. In 1619, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Italian volunteers fighting for Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia Ferdinand II during the Bohemian Revolt, and he commanded troops under the Count of Bucquoy at the Siege of Pilsen and the Battle of White Mountain. He was captured at Ersekujvar while attempting to recover the body of his slain commander in 1621, and he was released several months later and given command of the garrison at Olomouc, which he defended against Gabriel Bethlen's Transylvanian army. In 1622, he fought at the Battle of Wimpfen, and he was promoted to Colonel and Chamberlain for his loyalty. In 1623, Pope Urban VIII made Conti commander of Valtellina, and he later fought in the passes between Lombardy and Austria, leading to the Pope making him Duke of Guadagnolo, General of the Papal Army, and Ordnance Master of the Imperial Army. In 1626, he fought at the Battle of Dessau Bridge, and, a year later, he commanded troops in Holstein. In 1629, he became ill and removed himself from the front lines, becoming a Field Marshal and commander of Pomerania at Gartz and Greifenhagen. In 1630, as the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus invaded, Conti ordered his troops to burn houses, destroy villages, and launch a devastating scorched earth campaign, and he was nicknamed "the Devil". In September 1630, after Conti negotiated a winter truce with the Swedes, the Emperor sharply rebuked Conti. Conti, who was disheartened by the Emperor's rebuke and by his own struggle with cancer, Conti resigned and was discharged at Vienna, becoming Gonfaloniere of the Church and dying in Ferrara in 1636 at the age of 45.